Overview
- Pittsburgh capped the back-to-back with a 4-1 road victory Saturday, opening through Bryan Rust from Sidney Crosby, getting Yegor Chinakhov’s first Penguins goal, and limiting Detroit to 12 shots before late empty-netters from Rickard Rakell and Connor Dewar.
- The series pivoted on Thursday’s 4-3 overtime game in Pittsburgh, where Kris Letang scored 58 seconds into OT after the Red Wings tied it late on Alex DeBrincat’s power play following a Penguins delay-of-game penalty.
- Detroit finished 2-for-8 on the power play in the opener, which also saw goals by James van Riemsdyk and Andrew Copp as the Red Wings twice erased deficits.
- Milestone notes framed the set: Letang played his 1,200th NHL game and tied Scott Niedermayer for second-most OT goals by a defenseman, and Erik Karlsson reached 900 career points; Crosby had two goals and an assist Thursday and extended his points run into Saturday.
- Pittsburgh’s sweep builds momentum in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, while Detroit remains in the Atlantic Division lead but took only a single standings point from the two games as its offense sputtered in the rematch; Chinakhov integrated quickly after his trade and Evgeni Malkin progressed with a non-contact practice.